Apo Six Killings: 12 years after, court sentences two police officers to death

Justice Ishaq Bello of the Federal Capital Territory High Court on Thursday found two accused persons, Ezekiel Acheneje and Baba Emmanuel, guilty for their roles in the killing of six Igbo traders in 2005.

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The court convicted the two men, former police officers, to death for culpable homicide. Messrs. Acheneje and Emmanuel was fingered specifically for executing Anthony Nwokike and Augustina Arebun on June 8, a day after the face-off between the police and the six traders allegedly based on the directive of a senior officer, Danjuma Ibrahim.

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The deceased, aged between 21 and 25 years, were returning from a night party in 2005 when they were allegedly killed on June 7, 2005.

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The nation woke up to the horrific news of their deaths at the hands of the police who claimed the five men and woman, gunned down were armed robbers who opened fire first.

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Following the deaths and the subsequent public outcry, an official panel of inquiry was set up by former President Obasanjo. Five officers accused of the killings and eight other police witnesses eventually testified that the senior officer involved, Ibrahim, allegedly ordered the killings.

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The report of the panel held that the victims were at a nightclub located at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 in Abuja on the night of the incident. The panel further had it on its record that the face-off between Ibrahim and the group allegedly started when the female victim (Augustina) turned down the senior police officer’s love advances at the club.

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The panel’s report also said that Ibrahim’s pride and ego was bruised by late Augustina’s refusal to accept his love proposal and, therefore, set out to exact revenge.

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The report also said Ibrahim had allegedly gone to a police checkpoint at the end of the street and told officers on duty that they were a group of armed robbers in the area.

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When the six young people came in their car, Ibrahim ordered the police officers to shoot. The officers had allegedly planted guns on their bodies and pictures were taken of them by a police photographer.